It’s Official: Ebola’s In NYC

Dr. Craig Spencer tested positive for the Ebola virus on Thursday evening, making him the first diagnosed case in New York City.

Spencer was rushed to Bellevue Hospital in an ambulance staffed by workers with hazmat gear on Thursday and has been put in isolation. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted a preliminary test for Ebola Thursday evening that came back positive.

Spencer returned from Guinea ten days ago, where he was treating Ebola patients as part of Doctors Without Borders. He was not quarantined in any way after returning from Guinea and traveled from Manhattan to a bowling alley in Brooklyn on the subway Wednesday night and back in an Uber cab.

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is actively tracking down anyone Spencer could have had contact with. A “team of disease detectives immediately began to actively trace all he patient’s contacts to identify anyone who may be at potential risk,” they said in a statement.

Containing the virus in as large and crowded of a city as New York could prove tricky for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials.